I set one of my Kato SD70s on the track last night and it started humming like there was no decoder in it at all. After fiddling with the installed Digitrax DN163K1B for about 15 minutes (including a reset of CV8) I can only get the thing to run in reverse. The directional lights work fine. I even installed the decoder in an AC4400 frame. Same problem still. Does this sound like I let half the magic smoke out of the decoder or is there a CV, bit, or byte that I need to reset? Seems to me that resetting CV8 should have brought it back to life if I goofed something up in another CV. Brian
Did you put insulating tape on the frame where the motor contact "wings" go over it? If not, I suspect one of them shorted to the frame half. It's also possible this let the "Magic smoke" out of one of the MOSFET's on the board.
Yep, I Kapton'd the frame. It worked fine for the last week and then this one time it went bonkers on me. Guess I'll have to ship 'er back to Digitrax. Brian
Now that I think of it.... I had a K1b fail for no apparent reason awhile back, So it happens. Hopefully Digitrax will warranty it.
Just fill out the quick support form on their website and they should ask you to send it back for replacement. I just had one fail recently and they had it back to me in about a week. Of course, I did have to pay the few bucks to mail it back to them. Glad I always keep all my decoder receipts. Jamie
The deceased decoder went into the mail today. I was sure that I trashed the reciept so was prepared to pay to have it fixed. When my wife saw me tearing up my paperwork file (its actually a pile) she asked what I was looking for. When I told her I was looking for an old (one month old) reciept for train sutff but was almost sure I threw it away she said "oh, I save ALL of your train reciepts" and promptly handed me the correct one. My response was "oh poop.. er... I mean thank you dear!!" ) Brian
She's a keeper! If you have not experienced Digitrax customer service before, you will be happy. In fact, they just replaced one of my decoders (for free) because when I purchased it last month at the LHS, it was from old stock and it had one of the old yellowish LEDs in it. Sent a new one and it has the nice bright white LED. I have made a habit out of sticking the receipt for all my decoders in the poly bags and filing them away just in case. Glad you'll be getting this resolved soon. Jamie
Yup, many lessons learned on this one: Digitrax is second to none in standing behind their products. Save ALL you receipts especially the ones you know you “aren’t going to need”. If you have a wife that knows what you spend on your addiction and never complains, do whatever it takes to KEEP HER HAPPY!!!! Brian
Got my new DN163K1B from Digitrax in the mail today. Wow, I must say I am inpressed. 7 days from postmark to delivery. No time for dust to settle on that locomotive. Thanks Digitrax!! Brian
No More Digitrax decoders for me The last 3 DN163K1B decoders I bought all turned out to be lemons. I've just bought 3 of the new TCS equivilent, the K1D4. Very impressive; in fact I don't think I'll be buying Digitrax again.
Well the plot thickened a bit since I last posted on this thread. Yes in fact I did receive my replacement decoder and just like the original one it too shorted out. AARGH!!! Again Digitrax was good as gold with their correspondence and also by standing by their warranty. The big problem I’ve been having with the K1Bs is the board thickness. The older style K1bs (of which I have many) were manufactured with a thinner PC board. This allows the decoder to bend slightly when the shell is put on the locomotive frame. The newer ones won’t bend and therefore push the rear of the shell up about 1/16 inch. If you push the shell down you short out the board on the rear of the frame. This problem, not to mention the fact you have to modify the frame slots slightly in order to get the board to install, make the thicker K1B unusable in the Kato AC4400. Digitrax has promised to send me a K1C that is supposed to fit (it has smaller LEDs that don’t come into contact with the shell) as well as modifying their website to not show the K1B as the appropriate decoder for the AC400. At any rate, I’m not ready to give up on Digitrax by a long shot yet but it is good to know that there are alternatives out there for the Kato AC4400. Brian
You will not be happy with the K1C's. I've used them in a pinch when I couldn't get a K1B and the light output of the SMC LED vs the 3mm LED sucks because of the distance between the light tube and LED. There is a way I've solved the problem on the AC4400's. With the new boards you can mount the LED on either side so I solder it to the bottom side of the board I then also file the LED down a bit to make the top flat so it doesn't touch the shell at all. Personally I'm glad they went back to the thicker board as it doesn't need to be shimmed or have solder added to the frame contacts for a good connection. And if you are having a shorting problem just apply Kapton tape across the whole section of the frame where the board might contact.
